This Isn't Goodbye
by OerbaFarron
Summary: <html><head></head>Two pieces of a puzzle torn apart—one determined to wake the other, promising to meet again. This time, it's Lightning's turn to save Fang.</html>


**Author's Note: **_You can thank OneRepublic's Good Life for this. You look for your muse and find it in a song—absolutely fantastic, and I recommend listening to it as you read this. _

OOO

You were frozen, crystalline, halted.

I was living and breathing, continuing onwards, flesh and blood.

You were a Pulsian—my enemy.

I was a Cocoon soldier.

You were the reason our world was tore apart, the reason millions of our people were murdered.

I was supposed to kill you.

But…

Your eyes met mine in a dark alleyway—brilliant jade against dusky skin, seeming to sparkle with eagerness even when we were l'Cie, even when we had the weight of Cocoon on our shoulders. You came to me with your cocky smirk, the sway of her hips, the sound of silk rubbing against smooth skin, and you connected. You just walked up to me and then we just clicked.

You were mine and I was yours.

You weren't scared; you admitted to me that you caused all of this—if you had finished your Focus, none of this would have happened—I wouldn't have met you. And when I slapped you… Now that I think about it, it's funny to me. At the time I was so angry at you, so hurt that some woman had ruined Serah's life. Later, I was ashamed—and I told you. Remember what you told me? You said, "Sunshine, I'm glad you did. Pretty sure that's where I fell in love with you." You leaned forward, kissed me on the lips, chuckled and then walked off, leaving me with a rather perplexed Sazh, a confused Snow, and a downtrodden Hope.

You say you fell in love with me when I slapped you—I fell in love with you when we were falling. After the Ark, when you wanted to go out on your own—stupid woman—and finish our Focus by yourself, we were falling down to your home world. There was no better feeling in the world—me and you, nothing but the wind against us—ultimate freedom. Bahamut being your summon makes so much sense to me now. Being in the air makes you free and you were in your element that day. We glanced at each other—our bond letting us silently communicate words as you threw your crystal in the air. I pulled out Blazefire—shooting your crystal and watching as a dark cloud twisted into shape, the purple halos and tribal markings of your summon squeezing together before springing forward, with Bahamut diving straight for us.

The next thing I knew was that you were rising, grabbing my hand, sending a shock through my body. There was the most childish grin plastered on your face as you looked at me, eyes sparkling. We flipped together—you anchoring me down to Bahamut. Hope and Vanille were falling but I could care less—we were crouching next to each other, your arm around me as if you were scared I was about to be blown off.

I didn't know that the frantic beating of my heart or the feeling of butterflies in my stomach was something more than falling thousands of feet in the air.

And when I thought you were cocky _before_, it was nothing compared to how you were on Pu—_Gran_ Pulse. You swaggered around the whole time, took on fiends so much tougher than you, and acted like you owned the place. I can hear you know '_I do, Sunshine._'. Typical. Once we got to Oerba you… changed. Your countenance spun around in a one-eighty. I remember Taejin's Tower like it was yesterday.

At the top, you stood there, looking out at the crystal remains of your village.

"…_Fang?"_

_Silence. I had never heard you being so quiet before. Physical hurt radiated from you in tangible waves, and the silent tears running down your cheeks were unnoticed by everyone but me. I walk over to you, wrap my arms around you, hold your broken pieces together as I rest my head between your shoulder blades. _

"_I'm here."_

_Your arms wrap around mine—you were always so warm. _

"_I know."_

Everything happened so fast after that—Dysley, storming Eden, killing Orphan. And then we were falling again—and I looked for you. Everywhere I turned, all I saw were broken bits of crystal, the city tumbling down to Gran Pulse, and then you. Your gaze met mine, just like the other time, and except showing happiness and joy, there was nothing but sorrowful determination. I screamed your name, and you looked away. You turned away from me, grabbing Vanille and…

You completed our Focus for us—you sacrificed your life so that we can have ours.

I had no idea you had such an insane hero complex. You're worse than Snow.

You left, Fang.

You gave us freedom with a price; a gilded cage. It was a lie and you know it.

Now—_everyday_—I live with the fact that I could be with you. We were falling, together, but you stopped it, you went off to be a hero and you _left_.

What should have happened, what _could _have happened, is that we could be crystallized together—all of us. But no…

And now here I am, right in front of you and you can't even see me, can't even touch me. You don't know that I'm right in front of you, you don't know that I've been here every night for the last six months, and you don't know what I know.

You think you had everything figured out, that this was the easiest way. Well, it's not.

Now…

I'm leaving.

I'm going to save you when you couldn't save yourself.

If it takes tearing down all of the gods—I'll do it. My leaving will bring _you_ back to me. We are one Fang, you can't just take away one piece and leave the other by itself. It doesn't work like that. Nothing does. And because of that… I'm fighting for you, for you to come back to me.

And the thing you don't know…

I love you.

I'll see you on the other side.

That's a promise.

OOO


End file.
